- Sat Oct 22, 2016 10:20 am
#63485
Exile, I do appreciate the humour in, "you will find it in the last place you look", but to my ear Kevin doesn't actually fire until the last couple of prods after reseating the HT caps when it then starts. Firing and starting to run not being the same. Before that K makes the usual 'flobber' whilst being spun by the kick but doesn't cough. Like Gwilly also suggested, I would start with the sparks.
The Amal cold start is a crude thing, a slide that drops down blocking the air flow, but without air flow the main jet produces less fuel, it's almost self-defeating, hence lifting the throttle to raise the idle whilst warming up. And flooding the carb on the tickler of course.
Rule of thumb stuff - If you have petrol from the tickler it is going into the motor and it will fire on it if you have a spark. If the jet is blocked completely you get a firing bang but it won't run. If the jets are furred up it may run badly but it will fire the fuel. Petrol itself is a pretty good solvent, it may clear the jet itself.
I am not suggesting a faulty magneto but the nature of these things is they do produce more volts when spinning fast and hence poorest sparks when spinning slowly, at start up. Almost anything, like an iffy connection at the HT cap or dew wet HT leads can prevent the bike starting. Once you get the first fire down a cylinder it spins faster and makes bigger sparks. Another thing to consider, it's morning, we get condensation then, which doesn't help the sparks.
I'd start with the spark plugs and work back up the HT line, clean and reset the plugs, tighten and clean their connectors, check the HT cap connection, Kevin's HT leads are rather long, check distributor cap for cracks and clean it (no oil inside), check/clean rotor arm. Leave a magneto well alone but do check points and condenser (as applicable). This is easy stuff, so do that before stripping the carb down (although an Amal can self-adjust the idle and pilot screws, reset).
